State Archive in Lodz

The Archive of Non-Current Acts for the City of Lodz

1926-1936

The foundation of The Archive of Non-Current Acts for the City of Lodz in 1926 is considered to give rise to the institutionalized archival activities in Lodz. The fathers of the enterprise wished to set up an institution whose duties would cover storing documents of the city authorities' registrature as well as controlling the work on record administration.

Besides the activities concerning providing institutions, offices and private persons with data held, the Archive initiated research on the history of the city, and professional protection of archival monuments.

From the very begining, the Archive became a centre of intensive research connected with the history of the region. The circle of enthusiastic regionalists, among them historians, teachers and employees of Wolna Wszechnica Polska, gathered around the Archive, which in 1927 resulted with founding the Lodz branch of the Polish Historical Society.

The City Archive

1937-1950

In 1937 the Archive of Non-Current Acts was re-named for the City Archive and changed its structure, setting up the Central Act Store to deal with all current documents issued by departments, offices and institutions in the city. Documents of historical value should be directed to the City Archive after 10 years.

The initial holdings included acts from the 19-th and the begining of the 20-th centuries. Also donations of private persons, societies and organizations contributed to the developement of the archive and enabled the protection of various materials connected with the city and region. All these activities were of historical importance, since there was no state archive then.

The Archive continued work during the Nazi occupation. Governed by the Germans whose main aim was to evidence the German roots in Lodz, there were still Polish staff employed. After the war the basic goal of the Archive was to collect and protect documents from different sources.

The beginning of the State Archive

From 1950

The role and importance of the City Archive grew after the Lodz University had been founded. There was tremendous need for data for scientific research, especially for historians. Moreover, political changes after 1945 caused mass flood of acts from offices, institutions, societies, factories and various economic enterprises.

In June 1950 the Ministry of Education Act gave rise to the State Archive in Lodz. The former Piotrkow archival department's holdings, mostly comprising Russian administration documents were overtaken by Lodz office and thus organised archival activities of the Lodz region came into life.

Within years the institution changed names with minor variations, in 1984 to be called The State Archive in Lodz.